September 11, 2026 · View in browser

To give voucher programs a toehold in state legislatures, politicians touted how students with disabilities would gain access to private education. But those students’ families often have the hardest time finding schools that will accept them.

Joe Rogers, a former resident of the Hyder Mountain Road mobile home park near Clyde, North Carolina, lost his wife and three of their dogs when Hurricane Helene swept his mobile home into the nearby river in 2024. It wasn’t the first time floods destroyed homes at the park — but new residents continue to move to the same flood-prone land. 

These repeated losses are in part the result of a gap in disaster policy that allows mobile home residents to be put in harm’s way again and again. The federal government’s programs to buy out disaster-prone buildings are “the cornerstone of the Nation’s system for emergency management,” according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But the program was developed with traditional homeowners in mind, and mobile homes, the country’s largest source of affordable housing, are often left out. 

North Carolina Emergency Management said there’s no specific guidance for mobile home park buyouts and that the process is no different than it is for commercial or residential properties. A spokesperson said, “It is entirely the property owners and the local jurisdiction’s decision on whether or not they wish to participate in the program.” The current owners of Hyder Mountain Road mobile home park did not respond to questions about allowing trailers and campers to move back to where they’d washed away.

Related Read: Hurricane Helene’s Unheard Warnings

The Dominican Republic produces more major league ballplayers than any country outside the U.S. But, as our investigation revealed this week, that talent pipeline has enabled an industry that can hurt young players and their families. 

In our weekly newsletter, one of our managing editors will take you behind that story — and explain why we’re turning our investigative lens toward sports.

Three quick recommendations of what to read, watch and listen to:

📖 25 years after 9/11, questions about the FBI’s pursuit of Saudi suspects in the case have only grown. Read our story about how evidence that was seized in 2001 — but not made public for years — is raising questions about how the bureau handled an early 9/11 investigation.

📺 Omaha soil still has toxic levels of lead. Watch Flatwater Free Press reporter Chris Bowling dig up actual dirt and explain how we tested soil samples to determine that contamination remains even after an expensive cleanup.

🎧 How to fight a health insurance denial with a little-known tool. Listen to reporter Duaa Eldeib tell the story of one couple’s battle with their insurer — and the process buried deep in their insurance coverage booklet that helped them finally win.

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